Franklin PD Lawsuits and Cases
Emilio Morales - Audit NJ made this OPRA request to Franklin Borough Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.
Dear Franklin Borough,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
A list of all lawsuits and cases in which any officer of the police department was involved between January 1 2020 and June 30 2024. For each lawsuit/case, please provide the date (month and year) of the alleged incident at issue, whether the alleged incident was excessive force, settlement amount (if any), and final compensation amount ruled (if any).
Provide copies of the complaint in any lawsuits and cases described above.
Yours faithfully,
Emilio Morales - Audit NJ
Good Afternoon,
The Borough received your OPRA request below on July 11, 2024. The
deadline to respond to your request is 7 business days and today is the
7th business day.
However, the Borough is continuing its search to complete your request.
Therefore, the Borough requires an extension of 10 days beyond the initial
deadline due to the information requested and anticipates responding no
later than August 1, 2024.
Thank you for your patience.
Respectfully,
Darlene J. Tremont
Franklin Borough
Municipal Clerk
973-827-9280 ext. 101
Good Afternoon,
As you are aware the Borough requested an extension of time to respond to
your OPRA request until today, August 1, 2024. Our Attorney is currently
reviewing the records in response to your request and will need an
additional 7 business days to complete its review. The Borough
anticipates responding on or before August 12, 2024.
Thank you for your courtesies in this regard.
Respectfully,
Darlene J. Tremont
Franklin Borough
Municipal Clerk
973-827-9280 ext. 101
Good Afternoon,
As you are aware the Borough requested an extension of time to respond to
your OPRA request until today, August 12, 2024. Our Attorney is
continuing his review of the records to your request and will need an
additional extension of 10 days in which to complete his review.
The Borough anticipates responding on or before Thursday, August 22, 2024.
Once again, thank you for your courtesies in this regard.
Respectfully,
Darlene J. Tremont
Franklin Borough
Municipal Clerk
973-827-9280 ext. 101
Good Afternoon,
As you know the Borough requested an extension of time to respond to your
OPRA request until August 22, 2024.
You requested a list of lawsuits and cases, information regarding
underlying allegations, and settlement details. In response, please be
advised that the Borough does not maintain a separate list of lawsuits.
However, it does maintain recent copies of lawsuits involving the Borough.
There is only one lawsuit within the timeframe you specified involving the
Borough Police Department. Attached is a copy of the pleading as well as
related Notice of Removal to Federal Court. The case is pending and
therefore, no settlement details are available.
The remainder of your request asking for information, rather than
specifically identifiable records is an invalid request under OPRA
therefore denied. A proper request under OPRA, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
must identify with reasonable clarity those documents that are desired,
and a party cannot satisfy this requirement by simply requesting "all" of
an agency's documents. See Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J.
Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005). See also Shapiro v. City of Newark, GRC
Complaint No. 2015-79 (February 23, 2016). The request may not be a
broad, generic description of documents that requires the custodian to
search the agency's files and analyze, compile, and collate the requested
information. Bart v. Passaic County Public Hous. Agency, 406 N.J. Super.
445, 451 (App. Div. 2009); Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J.
Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005). If a request does not name specifically
identifiable records or is overly broad, a custodian may deny access.
Furthermore, records custodians are not required to conduct research in
response to an OPRA request. Courts have found requests requiring a
custodian to exercise discretion, survey employees, or undertake research
to determine whether a record is responsive to be overly broad and not
encompassed by OPRA. See also Donato v. Twp. of Union, GRC Complaint No.
2005-182 (February 2007); Mag Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic
Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 537 (App. Div. March 2005); and N.J.
Builder's Ass'n v. N.J. Council on Affordable Hous., 390 N.J. Super. 166,
172 (App. Div. 2007) (request for "any and all documents and data"
impermissibly overbroad). Courts have also routinely denied OPRA requests
that seek only information, as opposed to a specific government record.
Finally, OPRA creates no obligation on the public entity to create new
records that do not already exist. See Sussex Commons Assocs., LLC v.
Rutgers Univ., 210 N.J. 531, 544 (2012); see also Burke v. Ocean Cty.,
2013 WL 6169154 (App. Div. 2013) (holding that an OPRA request is not the
equivalent of lawsuit discovery).
This concludes your OPRA request and the matter is now closed.
Darlene J. Tremont
Franklin Borough
Municipal Clerk
973-827-9280 ext. 101